The Zee Brothers: Zombie Apocalypse Now?: Zombie Exterminators Vol.4

by Grivante

  Jonah counted and then jumped from behind the wall, Brutus in hand. JJ came close behind, the Pink Lady aimed high and ready to fire. Judas bolted from the far side, yelling as he ran with his shotgun.

  “Ahhhhh!”

  They stopped, hearts pounding as they found absolutely no one there. A line of desks sat there with old computers, one of which was on. Everything else was quiet and still.

  “Check your back!” Jonah shouted and spun, looking for signs of anyone rushing to attack while their backs were turned. Nobody was there. He scanned the nearest row of cubicles, but they were empty. He raced over to where JJ was holstering her revolver and drawing her phone from her pocket.

  She stared at the phone, turning around to face the cubicles. “It says he’s right there.” She walked forward, the dot blinking faster. Jonah and Judas moved to join her. JJ’s forehead scrunched as she looked from the dot to the cubicle. Her hand flying up to cover her mouth as it fell open.

  Laying beside the computer was Xanadu’s collar, the leather strap cut in two, a box knife with blood on the tip lay next to it. The small square iDog tracker hung from it.

  JJ crumbled. “No, no!” She hit her knees, tears bursting forth, her body going slack. “He’s gone!”

  The brothers shared a concerned look.

  “They couldn’t have gotten far, Judas,” Jonah said, spinning his hand in a circular motion above his head. “Search the area for any signs. We know he was here just a few minutes ago.”

  Judas nodded and moved. Jonah knelt on one knee, putting a palm on JJ’s shoulder and pulling her against his chest as she heaved.

  “I got you, honey.”

  Part XII - Oh!

  Judas came back a few minutes later, feeling sick to his stomach as he saw JJ still crying, wrapped in his brother’s arms. Jonah glanced up at his approach.

  “They’re gone,” Judas said. “There’s a stairwell over there.” He pointed to the wall and an exit sign. “It leads to an alley. There were fresh prints in the dust and tire marks where they made a quick getaway.” He sighed, shoulders sagging as a new round of heaving sobs rocked JJ.

  The brothers looked at each other, both feeling helpless and uncertain.

  The trio remained motionless, only the sounds of JJ’s sobbing filling the air. Finally, with a loud sniffle, she pulled her head away from Jonah’s chest and peered at the cubicle next to them. “What’s that?” she asked through a stuffed-up nose as she pushed herself to her feet.

  Jonah looked at the computer sitting on the desk, noticing a message flashing on the screen.

  ‘Are you still there, Dr. Nitsau? Automatic log out in 10… 9…’

  The countdown continued as JJ rushed over to it and hit the enter key. The pop-up disappeared, revealing the night vision video of Xanadu floating in the air. With a deep inhale, JJ pressed play.

  “They have a video from when we were at Burt’s! They do know about his abilities!” She looked up at the brothers as they came up behind her. “That explains it.”

  The video clip played, ending when JJ caught Xanadu and the group ran off. She closed the file and saw a folder labeled ‘Xian-Do/Xanadu', her eyes widened. She opened it, discovering a long list of files there. Documents, pictures, and a few more videos. She clicked through them. There were multiple images of Xanadu dated from several years ago, being held in a cage, along with photos of different statues that resembled his breed and a series of images from just last week when JJ had picked him up from the dog groomers.

  “What is all of this?” JJ asked, her mouth hanging open as her stomach roiled. “They were watching us before Burt’s. Did she know about him already? How?”

  Neither brother had an answer, but Jonah spoke up. “What are those other videos?”

  JJ opened one, it showed the inside of a lab with Xanadu sitting in a cage to the left of the screen on a table. His diamond embossed collar around his neck. When she pressed play, Dr. Nitsau, looking fully human, entered the camera’s view, sat on a stool next to him, and picked up a small microphone. JJ glanced up at the brothers. “What the hell?”

  Jonah and Judas stared at the screen, as dumbfounded as she was.

  “October 10th, 2011, 10:58 am. Dr. Natasha Nitsau, asset number 47385, subject, Xian-Do. Species, Canine. Breed, Pekingese.” She tilted her head and studied him a moment. Xanadu looked beyond her, out into the lab. “Apparent age, six or seven in human years,” she paused, “but we know it’s much more than that, don’t we?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Let’s see which of your secrets we can uncover today.” Dr. Nitsau set the microphone down and lifted a syringe from a small metal tray, then opened a side slat on the cage, reaching in and grabbing the dog by the collar. She held him steady as he jerked away and growled.

  “I know your history, little mutt. You will either reveal yourself to me or I’ll take them from you one piece at a time.” She used a pair of hair clippers and shaved a bald patch into his side. She thrust the needle in and pulled back the plunger, filling it with dark blood.

  Xanadu whimpered, causing JJ to gasp.

  In the video, the doctor removed the syringe from the cage and repositioned the camera on a microscope sitting on the table. She spread a sample of the blood onto a glass slide and placed it under the lens. The view changed to show the magnified cells. The focus zoomed in as she adjusted knobs and called out things she observed. After a few minutes of this, the image went blurry and switched back to the main view.

  Dr. Nitsau turned and faced the lens. “There doesn't appear to be anything special in his blood. It’s canine. I’ll be sending it to my technicians for further analysis. Next,” she twisted away and studied Xanadu. “We’ll be taking tissue samples.” When she held up a large needle that looked more like a hollow spear, JJ gulped.

  “No! No! Don’t you dare!” she shouted at the monitor as the doctor reopened the slat and grabbed Xanadu again.

  This time, Xanadu struggled, forcing her to hold him tight as she moved the biopsy needle into place. He barked and the image flickered, static flashing across it. She shoved it through his flesh causing him to cry out. JJ did as well, clutching at her throat as she watched in horror.

  Jonah lay a hand on her shoulder, which she grasped and squeezed.

  Dr. Nitsau pulled the large-bore needle from his flesh, leaving an oozing wound which stained his fur red. She set the syringe on the metal tray, picked up a small pile of gauze pads and wiped the blood from the hole as Xanadu continued to whimper. Then, her head tilted to the side, eyebrows raising. “What’s this?” She reached behind her, the view zooming in on the spot she’d taken the sample from, revealing a slight bloody opening. Before their eyes, it shrank until it closed.

  “Well, well,” the doctor said, grinning. “There's more to learn here than I thought.” She sat back in the chair and studied Xanadu as he cowered in the corner, looking away. “We need to try that again.” She turned to face the lens. “An unexpected but very pleasant occurrence. While my research into this…” She looked over at him, brow furrowed, studying him, then back at the camera. “Being… indicated that he might lead me to understand how to control the dead, this has even greater possibilities. If I can uncover the secrets that allow him to heal, my army will be invincible.”

  A broad smile came across her face. “I’ll collect the necessary instruments and start again.” The video ended.

  “Oh my god!” JJ shouted, turning to look up at them. “That evil bitch is going to experiment on Xanadu. We have to stop her!” Her eyes pleaded with them both, and they shared an uneasy glance. “Where did she take him?”

  Jonah shook his head. “I don’t know. There’s no way of telling, her company owned facilities throughout the country when we worked for her, over a dozen here in Arizona alone.” He turned to Judas, biting his lip and thinking.

  Judas sniffled, his eyes glistening with wetness. JJ reached out and clutched his hand.

  Jonah lit a cigar and paced around the room, staring
at the floor while the others waited. A minute later he stopped and spun to look at them, raising his eyebrows. “Nantucket!”

  After a moment of puzzled looks and a serious thinking expression on Judas’s face, he asked. “She’s in Massachusetts?”

  “Huh?” Jonah tilted his head, studying his brother, then nodded. “Oh. No, that’s not what I meant. Let’s go get Nantucket. Nat? She's really smart, remember? Good with computers.”

  “Knew how to blow stuff up?” JJ chuckled.

  Laughing, Judas said, “Oh yeah! She was! She might be able to find something on there, huh, Jonah?”

  “Exactly!” his brother said reaching for his smartphone.

  They waited as Jonah puffed on his cigar and stared at the phone.

  ‘Calling Nantucket’

  On the second ring, she answered in a hushed tone.

  “Hello?"

  “Nat?” Jonah asked.

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “It’s me, Mr. Zee.”

  Jonah’s face scrunched in concern. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m in class.” Her voice was small and quiet.

  It took a moment for things to click for Jonah. When he was a kid, they didn’t have cell phones in school, at least not very many.

  “Oh, sorry. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble—”

  “Nantucket!” A female voice burst through the speaker and Jonah could hear someone, probably a teacher, reprimanding her. “You know cell phones are not to be used during class. What do you think you're doing? Give it here!”

  There was a shuffling noise and Nat explained. “It’s Mr. Zee, the zombie exterminator.”

  “Oh,” a voice came through, speaking directly into the phone, sounding surprised. “Hello, Mr. Zee. This is Mrs. Griffin, I’m Nantucket’s history instructor. She’s in school right now and the kids aren’t supposed to use their phones during class.”

  Jonah smiled. “I’m sorry ma’am, I didn’t stop to think what time of day it is. We have an emergency and need her help.”

  “An emergency?” the teacher's voice carried a high pitch. “Like another outbreak?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jonah nodded as he spoke. “It’s something like that. We desperately need her help to prevent it from happening.”

  “Oh, okay,” the teacher said. “I’m so sorry, thank you for what you did at our school. We appreciate you saving all of us. I’ll give Nantucket her phone back now.”

  “You’re welcome, Mrs. Griffin,” Jonah said and waited until Nat’s voice returned.

  “Hello,” she spoke clearly.

  “Hi Nat,” Jonah said, “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to get you into trouble, but we really need your help with something.”

  “Okay,” she replied, excitement in her voice. “What?”

  “We need you to search a computer for some information.”

  “I can do that. Can you bring it to me?”

  “No. It’s a desktop terminal, we’ll have to come pick you up.”

  “I’ll be out front when you get here.”

  “Thank you,” Jonah’s smiled widened. “We’ll be right there.” He hung up and looked at JJ. “Okay, she’ll be ready, we just need to go pick her up from the school.”

  JJ stepped away from the computer, then turned back as a new pop-up flashed.

  ‘Are you still there, Dr. Nitsau? Automatic logout in 60 seconds.’

  JJ sat back down and tapped enter. “I can’t leave. Someone’s gotta stay here and keep this computer logged in. If it logs us out, we won’t be able to find Xanadu.”

  Jonah blew out a puff of smoke. “Ok, I’ll—”

  “I’ll go,” Judas said. “I’ve got my license now and one of us should be here in case they come back. Besides, driving Sasha is a blast!”

  “Good call,” Jonah nodded. “We’ll continue to poke around on here and see what we can learn until you get back.”

  Part XIII - My!

  After Judas left, Jonah joined JJ at the computer, pulling up a chair to sit beside her. “Want to try looking around ourselves?”

  She brushed the hair from her face and reached into her pocket, yanking out a smashed pack of cigarettes. “Not until I’ve had one of these.” The first one she removed hung limp, broken in the middle. She tossed it to the ground. The rest were the same. When she’d emptied the pack, she picked one up off the floor, snapped the bent part free, and stuck the stub in her mouth, then searched her pockets for a lighter.

  With a flick of the wrist, Jonah extended his hand and a flame appeared before the broken cigarette tip.

  JJ leaned in, lighting it with a deep inhale that she held in before blowing out with a relaxed sigh. “Thank you, I needed that.”

  A small haze rose above them as they sat for a minute, smoking and staring at each other.

  “You know,” she said, “sometimes I feel guilty smoking around Judas. After he quit chewing, it makes me uncomfortable to light up and get my nicotine fix.”

  Jonah smiled and nodded. “Yeah, me too. I’m proud of him though. It’s not easy.”

  “No, it isn’t,” she said, shaking her head and looking at the ash hanging from the tip of her cigarette. “I’ve tried to stop more times than I care to admit. Each time I end up feeling as if I'll stab someone within the first forty-eight hours, and I cave. I’ve tried patches, mints, meditation, hypnosis, you name it…” she shrugged. “Guess not in this lifetime, huh?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “How about you, Jonah, ever tried to quit?”

  He scrunched up his face as he blew smoke from between his lips. “No. Never even gave it a thought before. It’s just something I do, gives me peace. I appreciate the quiet time. I enjoy going out in the mornings to watch the sunrise, have my cigar, and wake up.”

  “Hmm,” JJ smiled. “Yeah, I used to do that on my back porch. Sit in my chair with my coffee, my cigarette, and…” she trailed off, letting out a long sigh. “And pet Xanny on the head.” She swiveled to the computer, took a deep breath, and said, “Ok. Let’s see what else we can learn.”

  There was one more video icon in the folder. She clicked play and Dr. Nitsau’s face appeared in the same position as earlier. “October 10th, 2011, 3:12 pm. Dr. Natasha Nitsau, asset number 47385, subject, Xian-Do. Species, Canine. Breed, Pekingnese. Healing test #1.”

  The doctor moved, turning the camera in the direction of the cage, showing Xanadu huddled in the corner furthest from her, looking away.

  “Previously, after removing a tissue sample, I witnessed the spot where the needle had entered his flesh close and heal over. The possibilities this represents are endless, both for my project and for commercial applications until then. Now,” she stopped, tugged on a heavy pair of rubber gloves, and picked a shining steel scalpel off a metal tray, a smug grin spreading. “I’m going to put this ability to the test.”

  JJ’s hands covered her mouth. “Oh… Oh no.”

  Dr. Nitsau stood and again opened the slat on Xanadu’s kennel. He looked up at her, releasing a slow growl. Her hand grabbed the fur at the back of his neck and forced him flat. “Don’t growl at me mutt, I'm the alpha here. I’d knock you out, but where’s the fun in that? I’ve always liked a little struggle.” He let out a muffled bark and the video went dark, then flashed back on.

  Jonah studied JJ. “Are you sure you want to keep watching this?”

  She sniffed and gulped, blinking at him. “No, I don’t, but I have to. We know he’s okay after this, so whatever she does to him…” she shook her head. “I just have to know.”

  On the screen, Dr. Nitsau used her left hand and forearm to force Xanadu into submission, pinning his face against the bottom of the wire kennel. The scalpel blade hovered over the shaved patch on his flesh as he struggled and whimpered. She moved the knife across his skin creating a two-inch long fissure. Blood ran from the line and Xanadu shook his body, getting free enough from her grasp to lift his head and bark. The screen flashed again. This time, the lights in the lab blinked on and off and Dr. Nitsau
stopped. She looked around the room, then back to the incision.

  It took a moment, but right in front of them, the flesh sealed, healing completely. The wound disappeared as if it had never happened, except for the wet blood in his fur surrounding it.

  “Remarkable!” the doctor’s voice said as she sat up, releasing him. She set the scalpel on the tray and turned to the camera, eyes wide, cheeks flushed and an uncontrollable grin across her face. “Well, that was even better than expected.” Her smile didn’t waver as she glanced about, searching for something. She got up and left the camera’s view, her heels clicking on concrete, fading and then returning.

  In the kennel, Xanadu watched her go, his eyes moist. When the sound of her heels neared, he rose up in the cage on his haunches as tall as it would allow him and stared out at her approach.

  The doctor returned, sat, and tilted her head, studying his new posture before speaking to the camera. “While I’d prefer to take the time to run a series of smaller tests before moving on to more extreme measures, the possibilities here are too great to wait.” In her hand, she held up a metal instrument that looked similar to a pair of pliers, only with concaved blades. She squeezed the handles together, making the sharp jaws pinch closed with surgical precision.

  “Let’s find out what happens,” Dr. Nitsau said, standing and moving next to the cage again, “when we make a larger incision.”

  Xanadu did not move as she reached in through the slat, he stared straight ahead, looking away from her, directly into the lens. They could see the rise and fall of his chest, then he closed his eyes.

  Dr. Nitsau took his right paw and positioned the blades of the surgical instrument to a spot that, when compressed, would sever most of his toes.

  JJ sucked in a heavy breath, hands falling from her face where they had been covering her mouth in horror during the majority of the video. She grasped for Jonah’s hand next to her. “No, no, oh my…” she gasped.